Sancta Maria Abbey, Nunraw, Trappist monastery in East Lothian, Scotland.
Sancta Maria Abbey is a Trappist monastery at the foot of the Lammermuir Hills in East Lothian, Scotland, built in stone with pointed arches and Gothic forms. The complex includes a church, a cloister, and the living and working quarters used by the monastic community.
The community was founded in 1946 when a group of Trappist monks from Mount Saint Joseph Abbey in Ireland came to Scotland and first settled in an old farmhouse at Nunraw. The architect Peter Whiston was commissioned to design the permanent monastery buildings, construction of which began in the 1950s.
The monks follow the Rule of Saint Benedict, which divides the day between prayer, reading, and work. Visitors can enter the church and attend the liturgical services, which are sung in a plain, contemplative style.
Some parts of the complex, including the church during services, are open to visitors, but it is worth checking in advance which areas are accessible on a given day. The surrounding landscape is easy to walk through in daylight, as the monastery sits within the open hills of East Lothian.
Although the monks arrived in Scotland in 1946, they lived in an old farmhouse for nearly thirty years before moving into the newly built abbey. The abbey church was never finished according to the original design, so what stands today differs noticeably from what was first planned.
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